Teri Takai appointed DOD's CIO

Long-vacant position set to finally be filled

By Amber Corrin

Oct 26, 2010

Former California CIO Teri Takai has been appointed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates as the Defense Department's CIO, DOD announced this morning. The action comes after Takai was nominated to that post and the nomination was withdrawn.

According to the announcement, Takai will also temporarily serve as the acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Networks and Information Integration as the office faces transition under Gates' plans to restructure some DOD organizations -- including closing that assistant secretary's office, which currently houses the DOD CIO postion.

President Barack Obama nominated Takai to be the DOD CIO earlier this year. Senate confirmation hearings were expected to begin Aug. 3, but were then pulled pending further review of Gates' plans. The White House withdrew Takai's nomination on Sept. 29. According to the DOD announcement, she is now poised to begin work as CIO on Nov. 7.

Because the position no longer includes the permanent assistant secretary title, Senate confirmation is not required, said Dave Wennergren, who was recently named assistant deputy chief management officer, Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

In an exclusive interview recently, Wennergren, the former deputy DOD CIO, confirmed the department's hope that Takai would become CIO, despite the procedural changes that led to the withdrawal of her initial nomiination.

“There’s a lot of public discussion that’s causing some consternation…but the guidance is clear: There will still be a DOD CIO and it will be a strengthened CIO,” Wennergren said Oct. 7. "It’s still our hope that Teri Takai will come be our DOD CIO."

"Takai brings her wealth of experience to this critical task and will help lead the effort to disestablish NII and define the successor CIO organization," DOD said today.

The DOD CIO position has been vacant since the George W. Bush administration.